To help us learn the vowels we use this vowel rap/song. Y is a semi-vowel and all the other alphabet letters are consonants.
Monthly Archives: March 2016
History Survey letter to parents and History Survey
Natural, Constructed and Managed Features
In Geography we have been learning about Natural, Constructed and managed Features in our world. Natural features are not made by people and were in a place before people came (like rivers, mountains, soil, plants and animals). Constructed features are made by people (like roads, footpaths, buildings and signs), and were not always in that place. Managed features are those that are looked after by people (like parks, farms and planted forests). They are environments that have been changed by people.
The children had to make pictures that included at least one natural, constructed and managed feature. Our next step is to label and list these features.
Easter News
As part of our History Curriculum we look at celebrations in different countries and cultures. So far this year we have looked at Australia Day, birthdays and Easter. The children made Easter baskets and chicks, and we discussed how a chicken hatching from an egg is a symbol of new life and this has a comparison with Easter.
‘Whistleless Recounts
A Recount is a genre in English Writing that is part of the Year One curriculum. It must have an introduction (that hopefully refers to who is in the story/where and when it happened/ and what happened). The events then get written in order and a conclusion finishes off the work. We sequenced seven events in picture form before we started.
‘Whistleless’ – Viewing and Recounting
In English we watched the video ‘Whistleless.’ We then discussed the events in order and will use them to write a Recount with ordered events and an introduction and conclusion. If you select ‘Watch on Vimeo’ the video will play.
Term 1 Week 7 Diary Note
Sports’ Day Chants and team names
Another part of our Mathematics work has been mathematics games – to develop number work and logic. We played Snakes and Ladders with one dice to reinforce the quick recognition of the dice dots (it’s called subitising and it means to intrinsically know that mathematical pattern without needing to count it). This is an important part of mathematics, and this same skill is used when cards are played. Later on we will use 2 dice for our games, and this is a great reinforcer of doubles addition and addition facts to 12. Board games with 2 dice are a great way to maximise number fact work for your child in the context of family fun.
In Mathematics we have been looking at money and Australian coins. The children were asked to categorise our coins and came up with 2 different categories. They were gold and silver coins, and cents and dollar coins. Our mathematics task was to use your coins to make coin rubbings that showed these categories. If you have any coins from other countries we would like to see them as part of our mathematics work.
In English we are learning about vowels and consonants as part of our work in grammar. The vowels are A E I O and U, and Y is a semi-vowel. In our alphabet there are 26 letters, and the letters that aren’t vowels are consonants. Most words in the English language will have at least one vowel. Knowledge of vowels and consonants helps later on with spelling rules and a/an rules.
We painted self-portraits that showed our appearance. We talked about our features (eyes, ears, hair – colour), likes, dislikes and things we are good at doing. This formed part of our English work with oral and written descriptions.
Last week our Sharing Topic was ‘something about the sea.’ We had lots of great sharing, ideas and pictures and have included 2 of our pictures.
In Health we are talking about keeping safe as part of the Child Protection curriculum. We aim for a safe school and classroom environment and after playtimes we review safe play or social/play issues that arise. This encourages the children to talk about issues that might be bothering them and in a bigger picture, this same skill is a good life skill to develop. We made a ‘feelings puppet family’ – where we identified a range of feelings, such as happy, sad, confused, embarrassed, bored, excited, frustrated, angry, OK, loving, ashamed, scared and worried. With this more explicit language, the children are more able to explain and identify their feelings. Then the children had a chance to make a puppet play with their puppets.
